93rd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery
|allegiance= |branch= Territorial Army |type= |role=Air defence |size=Regiment |command_structure= 33 (Western) AA Bde 2 AA Bde |current_commander= |garrison= Birkenhead |battles= Liverpool Blitz Defence of Faroes Middle East }} 93rd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery was a volunteer air defence unit of Britain's Territorial Army (TA) formed in Cheshire just before the outbreak of World War I. It served in the Liverpool Blitz and later in the Faroe Islands, the Middle East and North Africa. Postwar it continued in the TA until 1955. Origin Anti-Aircraft (AA) units of the TA were mobilised during the Munich Crisis of 1938. Although they were stood down after just three weeks, the crisis accelerated the expansion of AA defences for Britain's cities.Routledge, pp. 62–3. On 1 November the Liverpool-based 70th (West Lancashire) AA Regiment formed an additional battery (267 (Wirral) AA Battery) across the River Mersey in Birkenhead on the Wirral Peninsula of Cheshire. After Munich, the TA was doubled in size, and on 1 April 1939, 267 (Wirral) AA Bty provided the cadre for a new 93rd Anti-Aircraft Regiment. The new unit was based in Birkenhead with the following organisation:3rd West Lancs Artillery at Regiments.org.Monthly Army List, May 1939.Litchfield, p. 32.93 HAA Rgt at RA 1939–45. * Regimental Headquarters (RHQ) at Birkenhead * 267 (Wirral) AA Bty at Birkenhead * 288 AA Bty at Birkenhead * 289 AA Bty at Birkenhead * 290 AA Bty at Chester The commanding officer (CO) was Lieutenant-Colonel A.F. Behrend, and among the new officers appointed to the unit on 15 April 1939 was Second lieutenant Howard Erskine Johnston; he later commanded 103rd HAA Rgt and an AA Assault Group at the D-Day landings. Most of the recruits for 93rd AA Rgt came from the shipping and insurance offices and banks of Liverpool. World War II Mobilisation In June 1939, as the international situation worsened, a partial mobilisation of the TA was begun in a process known as 'couverture', whereby each AA unit did a month's tour of duty in rotation to man selected AA gun and searchlight positions. On 24 August the whole of Anti-Aircraft Command was fully mobilised, ahead of the declaration of war.Routledge, pp. 65–6, 371. 93rd AA Regiment formed part of the Liverpool-based 33rd (Western) Anti-Aircraft Brigade in 4th Anti-Aircraft Division.AA Command 3 September 1939 at Patriot FilesRoutledge, Table LX, p. 378. Phoney War At this point the Gun Defended Area (GDA) around Liverpool had a strength of just 19 Heavy AA (HAA) guns (3-inch, 3.7-inch and 4.5-inch), plus three guns out of action.Routledge, Table LVIII, p. 376; Table LIX p. 377. During the period of the Phoney War, the AA defences of NW England were not tested in action, and the time was spent in equipping and training the TA units. In June 1940, the Royal Artillery's AA Regiments were redesignated Heavy AA (HAA) to distinguish them from the new Light AA (LAA) regiments being formed. By the start of the Battle of Britain, in July 1940, the number of HAA guns deployed in the Liverpool GDA had reached 52.Farndale, p. 106.Collier, Appendix IX. The first Luftwaffe attack on Liverpool came on 28 August, and there were a number of raids thereafter.Collier, Chapter XIII.Collier, Chapter XVI.Collier, Appendix XIV.Collier, Appendix XV. Liverpool Blitz in foreground, the burned-out shell of the Custom House in middle distance]] The cities of NW England were heavily bombed during the winter of 1940–41 (the Liverpool Blitz and Manchester Blitz) and 'the actions fought the AA batteries were as violent, dangerous and prolonged as any in the field'. The wide Mersey Estuary left a gap in the Liverpool defences that could not be fully covered by AA guns, and by mid-1941 AA Command had begun constructing three Maunsell Forts in the estuary on which to mount AA guns.Routledge, pp. 394–5. The night raids continued into the following Spring, during which period Liverpool and its docks along the Mersey became the most heavily bombed area of Britain outside London, with particularly heavy attacks in December 1940 (the Christmas Blitz); in April 1941; and again the following month (the May Blitz).http://historyofliverpool.com/liverpool-blitz/Collier, Chapter XVII.Collier, Appendix XXX. When the Blitz ended in May 1941, 93rd HAA Rgt was still in 33 AA Bde, and this continued to be the case for over a year. In May 1942 the regiment was joined by 416 HAA Bty, which had previously been in 81st HAA Rgt in 4 AA Division. As the flow of new AA units from the training centres continued, experienced units began to be prepared for overseas service, and 93rd was one of these, but units under training for overseas service were often lent back to AA Command. In June, 93rd HAA Rgt moved to 70 AA Bde, and the following month to 44 AA Bde, both still within 4 AA Division in NW England, but by now 416 HAA Bty had transferred to 115th HAA Rgt. 290 HAA Battery was the first part of the original regiment to go overseas, being sent to the Faroe Islands (see below). From the end of August 1942 the rest of the regiment was unbrigaded, (with a brief return to 33 AA Bde during September), before leaving AA Command entirely in December. It then came under direct War Office control until February 1943, when it embarked for the Middle East.Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 12 May 1941, The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 212/79.Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 2 December 1941, with amendments, TNA file WO 212/80.Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 14 May 1942, with amendments, TNA file WO 212/81.Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 1 October 1942, with amendments, TNA file WO 212/82.Order of Battle of the Field Force in the United Kingdom, Part 3: Royal Artillery (Non-Divisional Units), 22 November 1942, with amendments, TNA file WO 212/8 and WO 33/1962. 290 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery, RA During 1940 a British force had occupied the Danish Faroe Islands to prevent the Germans using them as a base for attacks on the North Atlantic convoys. The first LAA detachments arrived in July 1941 and immediately came under attack from long-range Junkers Ju 88 bombers based in Norway. The defences were built up slowly: the Royal Engineers built an airfield at Vaago (the modern Vágar Airport). On 1 July 1942, 290 HAA Bty arrived, with 3.7-inch guns. It deployed one 4-gun Troop at Vaago, and the other at the islands' capital at Thorshavn. The guns were on static mountings, for which sites had to be prepared with access roads, emplacements and hutting. These were constructed over two months by Faroese labor. The battery had two GL Mk II gun-laying radar sets and a semi-automatic plotter that gave the guns the ability to engage unseen targets in cloud or at night, there being no searchlights available.Routledge, pp. 209–10. In December 1942, 178th HAA Rgt HQ arrived to take command of the AA units in the islands, and 290 HAA Bty was regimented with that unit. A Gun Operations Room (GOR) was established at Thorshavn.Joslen, p. 561.178 HAA Rgt at RA 1939–45. There were almost daily overflights by Ju 88 or Dornier Do 17 bombers and reconnaissance aircraft, but these were mixed with friendly aircraft on patrol or Search and rescue missions, and permission to engage was often denied by the Royal Air Force station commander at Vaago. On many occasions the target could be heard but not seen, or only glimpsed through a break in the clouds. Although the HAA guns fired three or four times in a typical month, often causing the targets to take evasive action, there were no confirmed 'kills'. By December 1943 the air threat to the Faroes had diminished, and the defences could be reduced. 290 HAA Bty handed over four 3.7-inch guns to a newly-formed composite 507 AA Bty, and returned to the UK on 19 March 1943 with 178th HAA Rgt. 178th HAA Regiment was disbanded in May 1944.Fardale, Annex M. Middle East 93rd HAA Regiment, with 267, 288 and 289 Btys under command, arrived by May 1943 and joined 2 AA Bde in Middle East Forces (MEF). The North African Campaign was just ending with the capture of Tunis and 2 AA Bde was responsible for AA Defence Area Tripolitania. However, it was withdrawn this month for its units to train for the Allied invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky).Joslen, pp. 484–5.Routledge, Table XXV, p. 164. In the event, 93rd HAA Rgt did not accompany 2 AA Bde when it went to Sicily.Routledge, Table XLII, p. 267. but remained with MEF. The Middle East AA Group still had considerable commitments in the Levant, in Egypt, and along the North African Coast. It was also preparing to provide AA cover for Operation Hercules, a planned landing on Rhodes following the failure of the Dodecanese Campaign, and aimed at getting Turkey into the war. This was called off in February 1944.Routledge, Table XXVI, p. 165.Molony, p. 574. By now, the air threat to the Middle East bases was low and by July 1944 AA manpower was being diverted to other tasks.Routledge, pp. 160–1. 93rd HAA Rgt was placed in suspended animation and disappeared from the order of battle in August 1944. Postwar When the TA was reconstituted in 1947, the regiment was reformed ay Birkenhead as 493rd (Mixed) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment (the 'Mixed' indicating that members of the Women's Royal Army Corps were integrated into the unit). It formed part of 59 AA Bde (the prewar 33 (Western) AA Bde) at Liverpool.[http://www.orbat.info/history/historical/uk/ta47.html Watson, TA 1947.]474–519 Rgts RA at British Army 1945 onwards.Litchfield, Appendix 5.30–67 AA Bdes at British Army 1945 onwards. AA Command was disbanded on 10 March 1955, and there were wholescale mergers among TA AA units. 493rd HAA Regiment amalgamated with 349 Field and 576 (5th North Staffords) LAA/SL Rgts as 441st Light Anti-Aircraft/Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery, with 493rd contributing Q (Wirral) Battery to the combined regiment.414–443 Rgts RA at British Army 1945 onwards.Litchfield, p. 215. 441st LAA Regiment was broken up again in 1961: the North Staffs btys reverted to the infantry role and merged with 6th Bn North Staffordshire Regiment, while Q (Wirral) Bty joined 287th Medium Rgt as R (Wirral) Bty. The battery disappeared in 1967 when 287 Rgt was reduced to a single Bty in the West Lancashire Rgt RA as part of TAVR.Litchfield, pp. 120–1. Notes References * [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/UK-Defence-UK/index.html Basil Collier, History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series: The Defence of the United Kingdom, London: HM Stationery Office, 1957.] * Gen Sir Martin Farndale, History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery: The Years of Defeat: Europe and North Africa, 1939–1941, Woolwich: Royal Artillery Institution, 1988/London: Brasseys, 1996, . * Lt-Col H.F. Joslen, Orders of Battle, United Kingdom and Colonial Formations and Units in the Second World War, 1939–1945, London: HM Stationery Office, 1960/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2003, . * Norman E.H. Litchfield, The Territorial Artillery 1908–1988 (Their Lineage, Uniforms and Badges), Nottingham: Sherwood Press, 1992, . * Brig C.J.C. Molony, "History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series: The Mediterranean and Middle East'', Vol V: The Campaign in Sicily 1943 and the Campaign in Italy 3 September 1943 to 31 March 1944, London: HMSO, 1973/Uckfield, Naval & Military Press, 2004, . * Maj-Gen I.S.O. Playfair & Brig C.J.C. Molony, "History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series: The Mediterranean and Middle East'', Vol IV: The Destruction of the Axis forces in Africa, London: HMSO, 1966/Uckfield, Naval & Military Press, 2004, * Brig N.W. Routledge, History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery: Anti-Aircraft Artillery 1914–55, London: Royal Artillery Institution/Brassey's, 1994, External sources * Orders of Battle at Patriot Files * Land Forces of Britain, the Empire and Commonwealth – Regiments.org (archive site) * Royal Artillery 1939–1945 (archive site) * [http://www.orbat.info/history/historical/uk/ta47.html Graham Watson, The Territorial Army 1947] * British Army units from 1945 on Category:Heavy anti-aircraft regiments of the Royal Artillery Category:Military units and formations established in 1939 Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1955 Category:Military units and formations in Cheshire Category:Birkenhead